You watched it. We watched it. Everyone knows what happened.
The Virginia Cavaliers had an ACC Championship and a College Football Playoff berth in front of them on Saturday night and lost to a 7-5 Duke Blue Devil team who they beat by three scores three weeks ago.
It’s a heartbreaking defeat that dooms Virginia’s chance to make the playoff. The ‘Hoos will still play in a bowl game in late December. But this was an opportunity unlike any other in program history that was squandered against an inferior
opponent.
UVA was never in control of the game with Duke scoring on the first drive and proceeding to control the clock and the game script. Virginia had to be more pass-heavy than it’s been all season and it showed as the offense struggled to establish any rhythm.
A heroic pair of drives in the final five minutes of regulation tied the game at 20-20 after Eli Wood hauled in an absurd 18-yard touchdown reception with :22 left in the game.
While the Blue Devils drove down to the one-yard line in the first overtime, the Wahoo defense stuffed them three times before Duke scored a touchdown on fourth down. A roughing the passer penalty on James Jackson forced the Virginia offense to start its ensuing possession on the 40-yard line.
Then, on the first play for the Cavalier offense in overtime, Chandler Morris slung the football into double coverage before Duke intercepted it and ended the game. It was a forced throw and the second from Morris that has lost UVA a game this season. It was an unnecessary trick play call as well.
Virginia now stands 10-3 on the season. The Cavaliers will still have the opportunity to break the program’s single-season win record in whichever bowl game they’re selected in. This season has been an unquestioned success and sets the program up to build on this success and re-establish itself as year-in, year-out contender in the ACC.
But the taste left in the mouth after losing the ACC Championship as a 3.5-point favorite against a team that had could do nothing against them 21 days ago is an especially bitter one.
